Monday Jun 15, 2026
Film Photography Podcast 380 - Kodak Snapic A1 Camera
Film Photography Podcast – Episode 380 – June 15, 2026 - Join Michael Raso, Owen McCafferty, and Trev Lee as they gather around the in-person roundtable to discuss all things film photography. Episode features a look at the Kodak Snapic A1 35mm point-and-shoot camera, a conversation about common mistakes made by photographers new to film, listener letters, and plenty of analog enthusiasm.
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Psssst! If you've been listening to the FPP for a while, you've probably heard Michael Raso and Owen McCafferty occasionally break into a drawn-out "Ahhhh, the French..." followed by an impression of legendary filmmaker Orson Welles.
If you've ever wondered what that's all about, FPP episode 380 has the answer! Owen takes a brief detour into film and television history to explain who Orson Welles was, how he became one of cinema's most influential figures, and the story behind the infamous late-1970s Paul Masson wine commercial outtakes that inspired the phrase.
19 days ago
For a first 120 camera the Yashica 124G is hard to beat - a great street photo camera. When you get used to shooting 120 go find a good condition Fuji 680 or 690 camera - with the normal lens (like 50mm) or the wide angle lens (like 28mm) - nothing short of sheet film beats a Fuji ”Texas Leica” 120 film camera. These Fuji cameras absolutely blow away nearly all digital cameras for image quality and they even shoot infrared film! And besides you’ll get good exercise lugging the darn Texas Leica cameras around - especially if you have one camera for normal lens and another for wide angle lens. When you get rich and famous shooting film, an eBay Hasselblad 500 CM is fun for portraits and such. Thanks for being part of the film camera rejuvenation! - Scotty (living a nice clean D-76 1:1 or 1:3 and C-41 life in Northern New Mexico)
19 days ago
Why use a crippled modern camera when 35mm Pentax Spotmatics and Takumar M-42 lenses are still affordable on eBay? I was a US Army combat photographer through both Tet Offensives in the Vietnam War. The Pentax Spotmatic and Takumar lenses are the only camera gear that never failed for me in combat or monsoon downpours (including even an M-3 Leica which was very nice but did fail once). I still have four Spotmatics and lots of M-42 lenses, used over the five and half decades since Vietnam - none of them have ever failed. There still are repair guys who can service them - it is good to check and lube the shutter after so many decades. When you do shoot digital, the Sony a7s III and Sony a7R VI with an M-42 adapter will work with your Takumar lenses perfectly as affordable but high quality prime lenses. If you want better metering accuracy get a Minolta IIIf or other good ambient light and flash meter. These earlier cameras, lenses and light-meters were designed and manufactured to far higher quality standards than any modern film camera or even many digital cameras. And they have shutter speeds (1 sec. to 1/1000th) and the f-stops you desire. God bless Kodak for bringing out more nice new film emulsions! About the year 2000 I though film photography was all over. There are more great film emulsions now than ever before. What a great time to shoot film! - Scotty (living a nice clean D-76 1:1 or 1:3 and C-41 life in Northern New Mexico)